Senate confirms four U.S. attorneys for Texas districts

Four U.S. attorney candidates nominated by President Barack Obama to serve in Texas were confirmed by the Senate before it left town for a week-long recess, officials said Tuesday.

Senators also scheduled lawyer Marina Marmolejo, nominated for a federal judgeship in Laredo, for a non-controversial voice vote when lawmakers return next week.

Senate confirmation of the four U.S. attorneys comes nearly three years after Obama was elected to office and places four experienced prosecutors and lawyers in positions to lead criminal prosecutions in Texas.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the nominees “have earned the support of the president and now the full Senate, and I wish them will in the important work they will be doing.”

The nominees were confirmed on a unanimous voice vote late Monday.

Robert Lee Pittman will become the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, which includes Austin, San Antonio, Del Rio, Midland and El Paso.

In the Southern District, Kenneth Magidson will serve as U.S. attorney. The Houston-based Southern District includes Corpus Christi, Brownsville and Laredo.

Sarah Saldana, originally from Corpus Christi, becomes the first Latina to serve as a chief federal prosecutor in Texas with her appointment to serve as U.S. attorney in the Northern District, which includes Fort Worth and Dallas.

Malcolm Bales already has served as interim U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Texas. He is a former FBI agent.

Obama nominated the four candidates for the U.S. attorney posts on June 27.

Their swift confirmation surprised judicial scholars who have tracked Obama’s judicial nominations and the slow confirmation rate the Senate.

“This is a good sign that they are not dribbling out one at a time,” said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond School of Law professor.

Texas has six vacant judgeships, including one in San Antonio, where congressional Democrats are pushing state district Judge Karen Pozza, and Republican senators favor lawyer Robert Valdez.

Glenn Sugameli, who tracks judicial appointments with the left-leaning Defenders of Wildlife, said the U.S. attorneys confirmations for Texasare “good news, but this still unjustifiably leaves in limbo the majority of judiciary nominees who were approved unanimously by the Senate Judiciary Committee.”

Marmolejo is one of several judicial candidates that face no opposition and will receive a voice vote when the Senate returns for legislative business next week.